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Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Dec. 30th through Jan. 5th

Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.

Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (usually Saturday night with a Sunday date). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).

The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.

So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?

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NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.

Good cloudy New Year’s Day morning, Moosekind! Rather an ugly day so far, although the temps are nice and mild—it’s 54 F. right now, going up to near 60 F., I believe.

Having been advised not to do laundry this New Year’s Day (it washes away whatever good fortune the household experienced last year), I now have free time, except for going to the holiday buffet between 11 and 2. Have written two of the four letters I need to write.

Would also like to work on a blog and work some more on Chapter 15. It’s going to be fun to write!

In the end we didn’t go down the hall to the New Year’s Eve party last night. Like other Meese, we simply can’t keep our eyes open until midnight. Dearly turned the TV on to catch the silliness going on in Times Square before we went to bed at 11. I occasionally lifted my eyes from my book to realize, like Sister Dee, that I had absolutely no clue as to who these people are. Nor, it must be admitted, do I care.

Who’s tradition is it that doing laundry on New Year’s Day washes away your family’s good fortune? I am in favor of all traditions that delay work but I am curious about the origin.

I also do not know who today’s celebrities are. I watched some of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade because I was too lazy to find a remote and change the channel and I had no clue who most of those people were – and after hearing them perform, no clue as to why they were popular!!! I shall settle nicely into my curmudgeonly role, embracing the get-off-my-lawn definition: “old, cranky, and more than a little stubborn.”

“Old, cranky, and more than a little stubborn”? I’m right there with you, girlfriend! My latest apoplectic fit-causing thing: WHEN, pray tell, did the word “sketchy,” which used to mean “barely adequate” (“I had a sketchy breakfast, half a grape and one almond”), evolve into “of dubious or criminal origin”? People should consult me before they go around changing meanings or spellings. I’m still p.o.’d at the WaPo for spelling “flyer” as “flier.” It is not spelled that way, any more than the machine that dries your wet clothes is spelled “drier.”

Re the laundry: that’s Chinese. Earnest seekers of truth have inquired as to whether that particular custom extends to sweeping, dusting, and washing dishes. There has been no clear consensus on that, however.

Yes, wordies can become curmudgeons with very little prompting! I blame spell-checker for the destruction of precision in our language – if “flier” shows up as OK then it certainly means whatevertheyhelltheywantitto even if it is NOT the correct spelling for that meaning. Harumph!!

Well, I hope that particular superstition isn’t true as I did my laundry this morning and hung it in front of the fire before I logged on. (Made orange cranberry muffins, too. Maybe that will balance things out. heh.)

I love Hoppin’ John and would make it, except that Dearly Beloved does not like black-eyed peas, or cornbread, or popcorn. Very un-Texan of him. I did buy a can of black-eyed peas in memory of my late beloved mother, and will stare at the label for a minute or two.

Up & watching the news & Dr Who. Serenity comes on at 9 & I’m hoping NASA TV will have more Ultima Thule coverage. Didn’t walk yesterday, but I will today. Got my blackeyed pea dish made — it also has kale & carrots cut in rounds, and I added black beans to help with the flavor (I do not like blackeyed peas). Hope I’ve got enough symbolism in there.

Anyway, happy New Year. I hope 2019 is good to all y’all. And there’s only one song I could post today, U2 New Years Day.

It sounds very symbolic indeed, another! Black beans are delicious. If I were a vegetarian I’d cook a huge pot of black beans every Sunday and live on them for the rest of the week: Vegetarian Chili (with bulgur wheat that looks like crumbled hamburger), black bean soup with green peppers and sherry, black bean burritos, black bean and corn salad with chopped orange bell peppers, black beans with rice…yummy!

That is actually one of the things I do: black beans with mustard greens & a can or 2 of ro-tel tomatoes (diced tomatoes with chiles). Make a big pot & put half in the freezer. Got dinner covered for 2 weeks.

New day, new month, new year – may they all be good. Or at least better. It’s 28 here with windchill of 18 and so cloudy the PV system didn’t come on until 9 am. Not a particularly auspicious start but we’ve got 30-1/2 days to go for the month. We wrapped up Dec 2018 with 166 KWHs – a hair under the 168 we did in Dec 2017. Wrapped up 2018 with 4.2 MWHs, 2nd highest since I got the system. Holding the Good Thought for more sunshine in 2019. It can be cloudy at night. Especially in the colder months. Our highest January was 236.7 in 2016 so that’s our “meet or beat” goal. We shall see what we shall see.

I went to bed around 9:30 last night. The big firework displays didn’t wake me but some random firings after 12:30 and again around 3 am did. I haven’t recognized the “stars” for years and don’t particularly want to. I guess I’m a charter member of the old curmudgeons club, too. I’m certainly glad we have the Moose Pond to visit. I can disagree with folks on political issues and not have it become a personal vendetta as it has/does in other places. (I hope Castro picks up enough name recognition to be viable. Am a “nope” on Warren for multiple reasons high on the list is that BIPOC don’t like/trust her.) I think we are making progress. Sometimes it’s so slow you have to look back and see where you started from to even notice, but looking back – yes, we have made some progress. So we keep on keepin’ on and we’ll get there somehow. Meanwhile, I need some coffee. Healing Energy to everybody everywhere shaped to their need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}}

Good morning meese, it’s 43 with a high of 55 on New Year’s Day. I’ve managed to make lots of progress in getting the living room, dining room and kitchen unpacked and arranged. It’s going to be a work in progress but it looks like my bookshelf has met with tentative approval from DoReMI on Twitter, at least.

I have a small noticeboard that would fit perfectly on the freezer door, if I could figure out how to get it to stick, and one of DoReMI’s Opinions ™ to solve my pantry problem (using a magnetic strip) seems like it would work for this as well.

Today will mostly be resisting the temptation to sit in the living room and read books/listen to some Ella/Lady Day/etc, and start tackling the bedroom.

Belle and Noname are still more or less separated, with him in aitchdee’s bedroom. I’ll give it a few more days and then swap (putting Belle in the second bathroom and him running free).

Sounds like things are going well – and there’s absolutely no reason you can’t listen to Ella/Lady Day/etc while you tackle the bedroom. Music might help you get it done better/faster. It does for me. Skritches to the kittehs & {{{HUGS}}} to you.

You’ve been majorly busy, basket! Don’t you long for the day when all has been organized and you can just vege on the sofa, listening to music or reading?

Moving is so traumatic. The months following our move last year in MiddleMarch were so traumatic that I felt alienated from everything for months. Moving is one of the seven biggest disruptions in life, along with job changes, divorce, marriage, birth of a child, and so on.

Good luck with your endeavors! I liked your bookshelves when I saw them on Twitter. I thought you were asking for a way to fill them up with more books. Being a curmudgeon, I happen to believe that bookshelves should be filled with actual books, not pictures or statuary or cute crafty thingies. But that’s me. :)

Good morning, 36 and cloudy in Bellingham. I slept long and well last night so I hope the odd feeling of energy I have this morning will last while I pack Christmas away. I’m enjoying one more cup of coffee by the tree and then I’ll dig in.

I am a descendant of enslaved people. Frederick Douglass has always been one of my heroes. I deeply resent Bernard Sanders using his words, while failing to mention or address racism, white supremacy, voter suppression, and the criminal injustice system https://t.co/PeBle3GHLA

It is 19 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 28. The forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies with an occasional glimpse of the sun.

Today there will be a meeting at the White House about The Wall. Defacto Senate Majority Leader Lindsey Graham will continue his descent into humiliation by propping up the lies of the serial liar in the Oval Office with half-truths and lies of his own. Nothing will really happen until tomorrow when the House meets, the gavel is handed to the Democrats and the shutdown-ending appropriations bill is passed. Then something real and concrete will be in the hands of Senate Republicans to vote on or ignore. If the Senate wants to cut a deal on immigration – real DACA protections not bullsh*t temporary measures – fine, let’s do it with the February 8th DHS appropriation deadline and not hold up re-opening the government. People are going to start calling the IRS help lines to sort out what the #TaxScam has done to them and there will be no one there to answer their questions. Hmmm, maybe that is the plan! In any event, I am pretty sure the plan does not include the next step of an IRS shutdown – no tax refunds and no processing of paper returns.

I am trying to organize my schedule so that I can watch the changing of House leadership at 11am my time on Thursday. The last time it happened, I did not savor it enough because I had no idea how momentous it was and how fleeting it would be. This time, I am going to watch and enjoy and move the energy forward to the next election and the election after that and the next 10 elections until we can be sure that the Republican Party, as it is currently constituted, burns to the ground and can’t rise from the ashes.

Really cold — high will be 40 — and raining. No ice, so nothing closed but it’s weird. And by the weekend it’ll be 70. Watched the Dr Who special — it was really good, love the new Doctor. Meanwhile, back to work. Hoping people will think we’re still closed for the holiday. Happy, hopeful, energetic song for the new year: Head Full of Dreams.

And you get a head
A head full of dreams
You can see the change you want to
Be what you want to be

Good gray Woden’s Day morning, Moosekind! It’s a lot cooler in Ashburn than yesterday, with a current temp. of 39 F., going up to 44 F. It’s cloudy, but one can see the brown water of the creek gleaming in the dull winter light of the gray woods.

Dearly Beloved has gone to the doctor for a follow-up visit this morning and I’m sitting here in my dressing-gown drinking coffee. Had another night from Hell, which I attribute to too much blue light before bedtime. However, the good news is that I finished Chapter 15 and wrote the first sentence of Chapter 16! (Tip to anyone thinking of writing a novel—stopping in the middle of a sentence is a good way to end a writing session. Makes it easier to pick up for the next one.)

Still have the same-old, same-old to do, except that I can finally do laundry. Elder Son and Mr. Preschooler came to tea yesterday, which was nice. The latter helped me to undecorate the little Christmas tree, which was fitting as Younger Son’s children helped decorate it a month ago.

The holiday buffet was very nice yesterday. We went at noon. Free champagne and shrimp cocktail were dispensed to those who wished to partake, followed by a brunch-type meal. Our dinner partners (we’re seated in groups of four) were an agreeable couple, but the female half of the couple talked our ears off. We also had our ears talked off when we had dinner New Year’s Eve with two ladies, one a newcomer here and the other a long-time resident. For the next few days we will eat dinner at home to avoid having our ears talked off.

Have been reading with fascination about the fly-by of Ultima Thule. WOW! So glad to live in this time if for no other reason than that we get to look at and read about momentous events such as this. It drives home once again that we inhabit “the third planet of a second-rate star in a commonplace galaxy,” as I once heard it described. Quite humbling.

Wishing everyone a nice peaceful day at the Pond, for tomorrow, no doubt, the real fireworks will begin!

26 but feels like 21 here in Fayetteville, AR – plus another gray hazy day. We only got 1.5 KWHs yesterday (compared to 8 on 1/1/18) so not a good start – but the light is growing and it’s entirely possible to still make up for an early foggy start. As with everything else, we shall see what we shall see.

I’m at work so I’d best get to it. I’ll keep the Moose Pond up and check back throughout the day. Not sure how much longer this work gig is going to last – it’s already two months longer than I expected – but hopefully where the money’s going makes it worthwhile. And I really like being useful. And hate being otherwise. So. Moar coffee. Healing Energy to everybody everywhere for their shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

Good morning, Meesefolk; 25 when I got up with a cloudy high of 32 expected. REALLY cloudy; as bfitz would say, “So dark…still in night mode.” Thank goodness the pups judge the time to wake up by their bladders and not the amount of light outside; I would have likely overslept otherwise.

Thank you, Jan for the heads up about the time of the changeover from incompetence to governance in the House tomorrow. I’ll try to pull it up on my phone (10 Eastern; just remembered you’re in Central) tomorrow, although that’s one of the busiest times of my day on one of my busiest days of the month. If I can’t see it live, I’m sure clips will be all over Twitter. I am so looking forward to the return of Nancy Smash; I know a lot still won’t get done in terms of governance overall, but she’ll be setting the narrative for 2020. That’s not nothin’. And if it causes Individual 1 to blow a gasket without blowing up the world, all the better.

I’m finally back from 2 weeks paid vacation. My brother got sick and I got depressed. Nevertheless the less the tree got decorated and the outdoor decorations were put out (I love things you only need to plug in and then they’re done). We had our big holiday dinner yesterday. It’s currently windy and chilly out here in Costa Mesa with a high of 62. I’ve spent most of the day trying to remember where I was on what stuff when I left (the Dean announced we were going home at 2 pm instead of 6 so I didn’t get a chance to write down where I was on various projects). Ah the fun of January.

Hope things are better now for both you and your brother. First day back on campus is a thrill a minute of trying to find where you were on what when you left. Our Dean also decreed at 2 pm shut down. Welcome back. {{{HUGS}}}

For many Americans, a shutdown is a minor inconvenience. But for Native American tribes, it can cripple the most basic community functions. Among the programs curtailed: a food program that fed 90,000 last year. My first report of 2019, with @MitchKSmithhttps://t.co/coSnvBcVyB

I have not heard anything. Republicans won’t care about people starving; I am hoping that some overlooked Republican constituency will emerge as damaged by the shutdown. So far people who like to wreck nature trails by offroading – a Republican constituency – are very happy. And the farmers not getting their price supports have already decided that they will lie down and die rather than go against the leader of their party.

Not only are the public employee of the Agri Dept who load the EBT cards considered non-essential, but the programs that fund all these – SNAP, WIC, Food Distribution Program on the Reservations, school lunches… – runs out about mid month. Even if the workers were on the job to load those cards and process the rest, there’ll be no money to do it with.

It is 21 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 36. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

I caught bits of Individual 1’s cabinet meeting (following the national treasure @ddale8’s Twitter thread) and he seemed particularly unhinged. It is most unhelpful for Lindsey Graham to say that Trump “giving up on border wall fight would be the ‘end of his presidency’.” Now he will dig in. I am hoping that cooler heads will prevail and that someone will point out that pushing the DHS funding fight to February 8th is not “giving up on the border wall fight” but funding essential government services while conversations continue. There will be plenty of opportunities to wave his manhood over the next month. The IRS help lines are shut down as we enter the first tax season following one of the largest rewrites of tax law in a generation. The economic surge that comes from people getting their tax refunds and spending them on big ticket items will not occur. I keep wondering when the sugar high from the tax cuts will wear off and American business owners realize that hitching their wagons to Trump’s impulses is not a good idea for the long-term health of their businesses. They were promised tax cuts but they were also promised that the adults would make sure that the trains ran on time. Mitch McConnell said he will not bring up for a vote any plan from the Democratic House that does not have Trump’s approval. He did not specify how he would know and what would happen if he thought there was an agreement, brought it up for a vote and it passed, and then Fox News hosts told Trump not to sign it.

I have front-loaded my morning’s projects so that I can be off my computer by 10:30am and settled in with snacks to watch the 116th Congress gaveled in. So I better get to it!

I don’t look forward to doing my taxes this year, or at least even less than usual. I adjusted my withholding early on, but I’m not certain I adjusted enough. I’m not one to use the government as my savings account so I get a huge refund, but I do like to break even or better. I’ll know soon enough if I guessed right. (The calculator the IRS provided after the #TaxScam passed works best if your income is pretty stable; Hubby’s hours/pay are quite variable, so it’s always a crap shoot and more so this year.)

I don’t like using my tax account as a savings account either but I definitely like ending up with money left over rather than paying them – and possibly incurring penalties. My problem is going to be that I do paper returns for my personal income tax return because I don’t trust the Internet (I have no option for my business returns, they require electronic). Paper returns will end up in big bins somewhere and will not be processed until the IRS is re-opened and fully staffed. So worrying about them being untended in a warehouse may be worse than worrying about identity thieves.

In my opinion, a lot more people are going to be under-withheld than over-withheld this year because they did not understand what the SALT deductability changes will do to them.

Another cold, rainy morning. I think the high today is supposed to be around 50. We got as much rain yesterday as we normally do the whole month. Having a wet fall should mean we’ll have a good bluebonnet year, we’ll find out in March. Looking forward to Speaker Pelosi being sworn in today. Finally some oversight, though whether it will actually slow the corruption…. I don’t know. Liked the Warren interview on Maddow last night. I want her in a position to go after the corruption & ripping off of consumers — I think she’d be a great Treasury Secretary. I wish she’d addressed the mess around the Native American ancestry thing. A thorough, sincere apology. Promise to do better now that she knows better.

I had a surprisingly negative reaction to the Warren interview last night; surprising to me because I’m generally agnostic about Sen. Warren. But I did reach a similar conclusion to yours…I like her as a senator and could see her in a cabinet role. But for me, she’s too one-note to consider supporting in the Dem primaries. I’m beginning to wonder if Obama and Hillary raised my expectations to unrealistic levels.

I really couldn’t believe that 1) Rachel didn’t bring it up 2) Warren didn’t say “hey, there’s this thing I need to address & apologize for”. The longer it goes in, it’ll be more of a thing. Get it done, address it, apologize — people are really hurt over it.

I have no idea who I’ll support in the primaries. There are probably going to be 2 Texans & that will pull me to some extent, but I think Beto would be better in a Cabinet position.

She would be good in a cabinet role and we are going to need really good people to sweep out the stables after the trump administration leaves.

I don’t think we have to settle for anyone at this point. I do admit that I find anyone going all-in on Iowa staff – as though winning that state means something – is likely missing the big picture; white Iowa and white New Hampshire are not going to pick our nominee in 2020.

Good morning meese; it’s 31 with a high of 55 today. Rain is in the forecast for this weekend, yippie! Meanwhile I’m still unpacking, and going to work means I have less time to do it / feel more tired when I come back. Fortunately aitchdee will only be moving in next week so I have this weekend as well. Need to just power through the last 20 or so boxes…

{{{basket}}} – so do for yourself what DoReMI suggested for helpers. Pick up a pizza and some beer on the way home from work for yourself. Put on what you consider to be “power music” and get it done, nibbling on the pizza between boxes. The cats should love playing in the boxes as you empty them. 😁😁😁 And once it’s done, relax. moar {{{HUGS}}}

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